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Awakening Apocalypse - Chapter 2: The End of the Beginning
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<blockquote data-quote="Mosier" data-source="post: 6574482" data-attributes="member: 6776381"><p>Heartbreak (somewhat reluctantly, to his own surprise) reboots his device, yanking him back to the cold gray of reality. (Heartbreak is experiencing a pretty common phenomenon among hackers, who almost universally end up developing an addiction to VR over their lifetime. Heartbreak is not addicted <em>yet</em> per se, but he'd probably have a hard time understanding why such an addiction would be a bad thing...) </p><p></p><p>The few moments that it takes his deck to reboot are very uncomfortable to Heartbreak, as he and Saint start making their way toward the Security office. Now that his senses are fully grounded in reality, the echoing of their steps sounds like thunder in his ears. Saint's breathing sounds like a fog horn. Even the movement of the fabric of his clothes seems harsh and over-loud.</p><p></p><p>Finally! The cyberdeck lights all indicate a successful, fresh reboot, and Heartbreak is back in business. He marks the host again without too much trouble, but there's something different this time as Heartbreak strolls back into the sports-arena style network host. The atmosphere is more tense. Where before the host had simulated a brightly lit summer day, the sky was now overcast and oppressive.</p><p></p><p>There is a flicker of movement just out of Heartbreak's periphery. As he turns to look, he catches the outline silhouette of a tiger, as it shimmers into translucent invisibility. A moment later, Heartbreak's mark is erased from the host, and the lights of icons throughout the host flicker off as Heartbreak loses the ability to automatically detect them. Heartbreak knows he is no longer the only person in this host. He is now being actively hunted.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">The CTI Security Spider (an actual person in the host, possibly nearly as skilled as Heartbreak himself) has noticed the intrusion into the CTI network. Heartbreak witnessed the Spider switching to silent mode as he found Heartbreak's mark on the host. The Spider then erased the mark. The rules for operating within a host while the host is not marked are not particularly clear in the book, however for this campaign it means the following: Heartbreak no longer automatically succeeds at spotting icons within this host anymore, and must make matrix perception tests to see things that are further than 100m of real-space away.</span></p><p></p><p>Heartbreak must mentally prepare himself to be caught and forced into cybercombat with the Spider and the legions of IC that will accompany him. Heartbreak can dedicate his effort to finding and knocking out the Spider if he feels confident enough. Or, he can simply continue his previous style of hacking, and deal with the Spider if/when it finds him.</p><p></p><p>For now, Heartbreak succeeds in spotting the icon for a surveillance camera in the hallway outside the security office. Through the camera, he sees that the hallway is populated with a few workers going about their business. None of the drone teams are guarding this particular room. </p><p></p><p>Heartbreak can't find an icon for a security camera inside the security office, which makes a kind of sense. Why would security want to watch security? However, he does find a closed-circuit comlink meant for communicating with the security teams. He marks the comlink, and is able to listen in on the radio traffic between the security teams. </p><p></p><p>"Control to Team 1."</p><p>"Team 1. All quiet here."</p><p>"Flipper reports possible unauthorized access, stairwells 29-A and 29-B. Cameras in the area are down. We're bringing them back up now. Please investigate."</p><p>"Team 1 copy. I'm on the way."</p><p>"Control to all Security teams; network security has identified a vulnerability that may have allowed unauthorized access to secure areas. Initiate 100% company badge compliance measures at this time." Heartbreak notes that the voice sounds bored, as if this type of increased security isn't exactly rare.</p><p>"Team 2 copy."</p><p>"Team 3 copy."</p><p></p><p>The Spider must have found the door alarms and cameras offline, and alerted the physical security team. The cameras Heartbreak originally shut down will be brought online momentarily, which would allow security to see them on the stairwell landing. The runners all meet together at the bottom of the stairwell, and move through the door just before the security cameras come online and sweep the area. Heartbreak, Casper, Skinny, and Saint are now all together, making their way toward the CTI security office. </p><p></p><p>Heartbreak must now decide whether to keep his marks on the security office hallway and comlink radio so he can continue to monitor them, or erase his own marks so that the Spider won't find evidence of where they're heading next...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mosier, post: 6574482, member: 6776381"] Heartbreak (somewhat reluctantly, to his own surprise) reboots his device, yanking him back to the cold gray of reality. (Heartbreak is experiencing a pretty common phenomenon among hackers, who almost universally end up developing an addiction to VR over their lifetime. Heartbreak is not addicted [I]yet[/I] per se, but he'd probably have a hard time understanding why such an addiction would be a bad thing...) The few moments that it takes his deck to reboot are very uncomfortable to Heartbreak, as he and Saint start making their way toward the Security office. Now that his senses are fully grounded in reality, the echoing of their steps sounds like thunder in his ears. Saint's breathing sounds like a fog horn. Even the movement of the fabric of his clothes seems harsh and over-loud. Finally! The cyberdeck lights all indicate a successful, fresh reboot, and Heartbreak is back in business. He marks the host again without too much trouble, but there's something different this time as Heartbreak strolls back into the sports-arena style network host. The atmosphere is more tense. Where before the host had simulated a brightly lit summer day, the sky was now overcast and oppressive. There is a flicker of movement just out of Heartbreak's periphery. As he turns to look, he catches the outline silhouette of a tiger, as it shimmers into translucent invisibility. A moment later, Heartbreak's mark is erased from the host, and the lights of icons throughout the host flicker off as Heartbreak loses the ability to automatically detect them. Heartbreak knows he is no longer the only person in this host. He is now being actively hunted. [COLOR=#008000]The CTI Security Spider (an actual person in the host, possibly nearly as skilled as Heartbreak himself) has noticed the intrusion into the CTI network. Heartbreak witnessed the Spider switching to silent mode as he found Heartbreak's mark on the host. The Spider then erased the mark. The rules for operating within a host while the host is not marked are not particularly clear in the book, however for this campaign it means the following: Heartbreak no longer automatically succeeds at spotting icons within this host anymore, and must make matrix perception tests to see things that are further than 100m of real-space away.[/COLOR] Heartbreak must mentally prepare himself to be caught and forced into cybercombat with the Spider and the legions of IC that will accompany him. Heartbreak can dedicate his effort to finding and knocking out the Spider if he feels confident enough. Or, he can simply continue his previous style of hacking, and deal with the Spider if/when it finds him. For now, Heartbreak succeeds in spotting the icon for a surveillance camera in the hallway outside the security office. Through the camera, he sees that the hallway is populated with a few workers going about their business. None of the drone teams are guarding this particular room. Heartbreak can't find an icon for a security camera inside the security office, which makes a kind of sense. Why would security want to watch security? However, he does find a closed-circuit comlink meant for communicating with the security teams. He marks the comlink, and is able to listen in on the radio traffic between the security teams. "Control to Team 1." "Team 1. All quiet here." "Flipper reports possible unauthorized access, stairwells 29-A and 29-B. Cameras in the area are down. We're bringing them back up now. Please investigate." "Team 1 copy. I'm on the way." "Control to all Security teams; network security has identified a vulnerability that may have allowed unauthorized access to secure areas. Initiate 100% company badge compliance measures at this time." Heartbreak notes that the voice sounds bored, as if this type of increased security isn't exactly rare. "Team 2 copy." "Team 3 copy." The Spider must have found the door alarms and cameras offline, and alerted the physical security team. The cameras Heartbreak originally shut down will be brought online momentarily, which would allow security to see them on the stairwell landing. The runners all meet together at the bottom of the stairwell, and move through the door just before the security cameras come online and sweep the area. Heartbreak, Casper, Skinny, and Saint are now all together, making their way toward the CTI security office. Heartbreak must now decide whether to keep his marks on the security office hallway and comlink radio so he can continue to monitor them, or erase his own marks so that the Spider won't find evidence of where they're heading next... [/QUOTE]
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